Created by Andrew Welsh-Huggins
“I just deliver stuff.”
Okay, MERC CARTER isn’t really a private eye. He’s a freelance delivery guy, but he’s no DoorDash doofus, bringing you cold pizza or somebody else’s order.
A former federal agent with the postal inspection service, he only makes special deliveries. Very special deliveries. Puppies. Papers. Jewelry. Collectible baseball cards. Whatever. No questions asked.
He’s slight of build, and barely 5’10”, and sports a multi-pocket utility vest when he’s delivering. So, yeah, he looks a little nerdy, maybe even dorky — but he also carries a Beretta 92D, and knows how to use it. That’s how serious he takes his job.
And he’s never missed a delivery.
But just to be sure he also carries zip ties. A can of Mace. A blackjack. That vest has a lot of pockets. And Merc has a few other tricks up his sleeve, and in his Chevy Suburban. Which is handy, because he’s a shit magnet. Things happen around him. Often.
He may be a little out there (brain damage?), but he’s an engaging hero; a mild-mannered Jack Reacher in cargo pants, with a gun, a clipboard and a peculiar skill set.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andrew Welsh-Huggins is a writer and editor with the Associated Press in Columbus, Ohio, and the author of the Andy Hays series, about a Columbus private eye. He has also written extensively on capital punishment, the drug trade, and politics, and is the author of several non-fiction books, including No Winners Here Tonight: Race, Politics, and Geography in One of the Country’s Busiest Death Penalty States and Hatred at Home: Al-Qaida on Trial in the American Midwest. Read ’em and weep…
NOVELS
- The Mailman (2025) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
- The Delivery (2026) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
FURTHER INVESTIGATION
- Amateur Hour
Official Occupations of Some Popular Accidental Eyes (and Other Shit Magnets)
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.
